The Innovation Evaluation Process of Undergraduate Biology Instructors Who Actively Use Case Studies in Their Introductory Courses

Abstract

There is little detail in the literature that describes how college biology instructors have evaluated case study teaching as an innovative teaching strategy. This study used Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) Theory and innovation evaluation as the theoretical framework to identify and describe the information seeking processes that college biology instructors who actively use case studies in their introductory biology courses (referred to as case study faculty). The purpose of this study was to understand why and how case study faculty came to know, value, and implement case study teaching with the intention of using this information to help motivate change among college biology instructors who are reluctant or undecided about making a change to their teaching practices. A phenomenological approach was used to describe the experiences that seven case study faculty went through from their first exposure to the decision to implement and adopt case study teaching. Data analysis revealed nine themes or meaning units shared by five or more of the seven participants. The findings show that the meaning units were applicable to DOI Theory and innovation evaluation. The findings also suggest that there could be more places within DOI Theory where innovation evaluation takes place than previously suggested. This study was able to described the communication channels that case study faculty used to learn about case study teaching, how long it took them to make the decision to implement and adopt case studies in their classroom, the information seeking processes that they go through and how those processes influenced their decision, and resources that are critical for other college biology instructors to receive in order to feel better informed about the decision to use case study teaching.